The Safe Place
by LilacSky128
Summary: Having escaped Akito, Yuki has a lot to contend with especially now he's come to live with Shigure and has to face the outside world and other members of the Jyunishi after being cut off from them for so long.
1. Chapter 1

Yuki

I look around at my new surroundings, dazed. Everything happened so fast, and I can hardly believe I'm free.

I'm free. I'm free of Akito. Not because of any great strength on my part, but because Shigure, my cousin, has offered me a place to stay other than main house. I've barely spoken to Shigure, only a few odd words here and there. Nothing significant, nothing momentous.

So why would he let me live with him?

It doesn't make any sense.

"And here," he trills. "Is the kitchen, there's the living room and… that's a lot of mess. OK, any questions?" he says, closing the door on the pile of rubbish swiftly. Mutely, I shake my head.

"Ah, yes," he says, as though I've reminded him of something. "And your room is up the stairs, second door on your left."

I nod. Silent.

He regards me for a moment as though he's about to say something else, but then he sighs and points to the stairs. As I walk up them I can feel his eyes on my back, as if he's trying to figure something out.

Who knows what?

I reach my room.

My room… words that used to have such different connotations. Words that used to strike fear into me… words that still do. I guess things don't go away as easily as I'd like, with a simple change of location wiping out the past.

Still, I guess it's a step in the right direction.

Haru

"_Please, will you let Yuki live with you, take him away from the place." _

_Shigure looked at me, almost seriously, although I don't think I'd ever seen him truly serious, although in brief unguarded moments, he did seem to be considering something. Suddenly, his face broke into an amused smile._

"_OK, I'll let Yuki live with me," he said, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "On one condition."_

"_Anything," I said seriously._

"_I'll do it if you call me sensei."_

_I laughed, "Sure."_

I've done it. And, surprisingly, it wasn't even that difficult.

But Yuki's safe now. So the how or the what or the when doesn't really matter.

He's reached a safer place.

Shigure

He's a strange boy. I know a little of what he's been through so it's only really to be expected, but still, there's something odd…

It's probably something about how he doesn't talk, not much anyway, I know he went through a period where he didn't talk at all, but even now it's fairly hard to get a word out of him. He said two words to me since I first took him out. One of them was 'Really?' and one of them was 'Thanks'.

And this boy is _Ayame's _brother, that is strange to say the least.

Yuki was always a sticky topic with us, Hatori saw him the most and once when he brought him up, Ayame had this brief expression that he didn't know who Hatori was talking about. I know Hatori saw it, but he just looked away and changed the subject. I could tell he wasn't happy.

And I think Ayame knew too.

Hatori said he'd come round to check up on Yuki, and I'm sure Haru will.

Aren't I popular?

Still, Hatori is a classic martyr. And he's found a way to blame himself for some of Yuki's sadness and he's clinging on to it. So I think he'll be visiting a fair bit.

I wonder if Aya will come to see him.

**AN: Right, here we are. This is my first story that I've posted and will be continued soon, I'll try and update as often as I can. I would really love reviews, I'm fine with constructive criticism and would love to know what people think of my writing :) Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Shigure

"Ha-san!" I exclaim as he steps resignedly over the threshold. "So rarely I am graced with your presence, but now, here you are, standing on my very doorstep!"

He ignores me, "Where's Yuki?"

"Shush, now Ha-san, or I'll think you didn't come to see me at all."

"I _didn't _come to see you."

"Ha-san, your words, they hurt."

"Good. Where is he?"

"In his room," I say, giving in.

"How is he?"

I think for a moment, "Quiet," I say finally.

"Yes," Hatori agrees.

"Doesn't that strike you as odd?" I ask. "I mean, this boy is related to _Ayame."_

"Maybe he couldn't get a word in edgeways," says Hatori stepping past me. "Can I see him?"

"Yes, yes," I say, waving him on.

He continues up the stairs and I decide to wait for him to come down before I talk to him further. I go into my study, I have a strange feeling my editor is coming round later to pick up the final chapter of my novel.

Editors are fun.

Hatori

I push open the door to what I assume is Yuki's room. I'm right. He's standing at the window, staring out.

"Hello, Yuki," I say quietly and he turns, seeing me for the first time.

"Hello Hatori," he replies quietly.

"How are you?"

"Fine," he says.

"Good," I say, looking around the room. He hasn't unpacked yet and as he follows my gaze as it alights on his full suitcase he colours slightly and turns away.

I shift into what most people call my 'doctor mode' and take a seat by his desk. "Now, Yuki, I'd just like to ask you a few questions about your health."

*

When I get downstairs Shigure is waiting there, sitting expectantly on the sofa in his living room. "Ah, Ha-san, would you like a cup of tea?"

I glance at him warily. "Alright, but I think I'd better make it."

"Don't be silly," he says, waving me away. "I've found that it's incredibly difficult to burn water."

"Which isn't to say that you haven't tried," I mutter but let him go.

When he comes back in he hands me my mug and I take a sip, slightly wincing when it burns my tongue. Shigure looks at me, and if I didn't know him any better I would have thought he was being serious.

"You're looking tired, Ha-san," he says.

I roll my eyes, not this again. "I'm fine," I say.

"Really," he says, not fooled. "What's wrong?"

"Akito," I concede.

"I figured that much," he says, and I glance up at him but his expression is carefully guarded.

"She's not well," I say.

"It's funny how Akito's spells of ill health coincide with bad events that happen in her life."

"Really," I say. "I would have thought it would've been an explanation."

"Still, I suppose Kureno's taking care of her," he says, his tone light and his face closed.

"He's trying," I say. It's always difficult to talk to Shigure about Akito, because I know that behind the light inquiries there's something deeper. "But she's not good," I say, looking up and meeting his eyes. "Not at all."

Kureno

I stand in the darkened room staring at the huddle of bedclothes which I know is Akito; she's rocking backwards and forwards and I can't make out her face. She's worse than she was when Shigure left, though that's probably because she ordered him to leave and it was easier to hate him now, though, all she can feel is neglected and abandoned.

"Akito," I start tentatively, and I see her face start to emerge. It's tearstained and pale, her hair hanging in lank strands around her face.

"He left," she murmurs, it's all she's really said since Yuki went. She wakes in the night screaming, and it's up to me and Hatori to calm her hysteric shrieks as they pierce through the night.

"I know," I say, going over to her, I hold a nervous hand out and pull her closer to me. "I know."

"No!" she says, pushing me away. "You don't know! He left me! He left me, and he's never coming back."

I stay perfectly still, this is the most she's said; maybe it's good for her to get it out of her system. "He'll probably visit," I offer weakly.

"No," she says, shaking her head and it's as if the floodgates have opened and there's no stopping her. "No, he's left- _abandoned_ me, and he won't ever come back, not ever."

She looks at me and suddenly I see the hysterical child who begged me not to go after my curse broke, who clung to me and screamed and cried.

"He's the rat!" she exclaims. "The closest to God, closest to _me! _If he can leave, if he can abandon me, then-" she tails off into sobs. I pull her close again.

"Kureno," she murmurs after her sobs have subsided, leaving only small tears trickling down her cheeks, and right then, right now, she looks only like a child, nothing more than the smallest, weakest child. "It hurts _here_." I lean back to see her clutching at her chest. "The bonds, they're being stretched and- and-"

She starts sobbing again. I know what she was going to say, she was going to say that she's terrified that they're going to break.


	3. Chapter 3

Haru

I hadn't been to see Yuki for a while.

This was mainly because I was having trouble finding Shigure's house.

The long trek had, however given me time to think. Things would be different for Yuki. Very different. And they would be hard to deal with. But I believed he could make it through.

But there was no way in hell I was going to tell him I was responsible for him coming to live at Shigure's.

I took a bite of the chocolate bar I had in my pocket. It had become customary to bring food whenever I went out, on the off chance - and, OK, it was a pretty strong off chance - that I would get lost.

I stood at the edge of a forest; _alright, _I thought, _here goes._

Hatori

After I've left Shigure's house I drive to a spot not far from there, and pull over into a lay-by. I sit there for a while, before pulling out my phone and dialling. As the rings sound I steel myself for the answer.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Ayame," I say.

"Tori-san!" he exclaims, his voice reaching a volume which I am sure could not be measured using any normal scale. "You've called me! You never call me! What's going on? I'm in the shop! There are some annoying people trying to interrupt my incredible phone call-"

"Customers?" I interject.

"Yes, you'd think they'd have some idea of timing."

"Ayame," I say solemnly, and his tirade stopped abruptly.

"What is it Tori-san? You have that voice on like you sometimes have when you're mad at me, actually you have that voice on a lot now I come to think of it-"

"Ayame!" I say, before he can start again. "Will you listen to me?"

"Yes, Tori-san," he says meekly.

I sigh. "Look, you know that Yuki has come to live at Shigure's?"

There's a pause, which I think is a first in a conversation with Ayame. "Yes," he says.

"Are you going to go visit him?"

"I don't know," he says, his voice sinking into petulance.

"Why not?" I ask.

"Well," he hesitates. "I just don't know."

"You're scared," I state.

His silence - for once - speaks louder than words. When he eventually speaks it's at an almost normal level, which is extraordinarily quiet for Aya. "What if he turns me away?"

"Aya," I say quietly. "You have to take that risk."

"Why? Why do I have to take that risk?" he says, defensively.

"Aya."

"What?"

"If you never do anything because you're scared of it, then you'll never do anything at all."

Yuki

I stare out of the window, everything seems so strange here, alien. And I feel strange too, because suddenly I'm not being cooped up in one room, yet I'm staying in one, because…

Because I'm scared.

I haven't slept since I came here, I keep waking in the night in a cold sweat, after dreaming of that room. Of Akito.

I'm stirred from my reverie when the door swings open to reveal Shigure leaning on the door frame.

"Hello," he said. "How are you?"

I nod. "Fine."

"Good, good," he says absently. "You know, we should probably see about getting you enrolled at the high school around here."

My head jerks up, I didn't expect for things to move this fast.

"It's a mixed high school, so you'll have to be careful," he warns, and I look down. No matter where I go, no matter where I live, I'm never going to be able to escape the curse.

Ever.

"But, still," he says, clapping his hands together. "Should be fun! I remember when I went there, it was a boy's school then, but the girl's was next door and we did do mixers sometimes. As well, as the fact that I could climb over the wall between the two schools… There was one incident in particular… still, no matter, Hatori wiped their memories for me with little grumbling, actually quite a lot of grumbling… oh, Ha-san, always so serious!"

He turns away as though this is the end to this conversation, though I haven't understood a word. "We'll go tomorrow, I suppose. I know one of the teachers, it should be good to see her again…" his voice trails off, as we both hear a pounding on the door.

"SHIGURE SOHMA!"

He turns and smiles serenely. "That'll be my editor," he says and walks slowly down the stairs.

It occurs to me that my cousin might be very strange indeed.


End file.
